Patentable/Patents/US-8515782
US-8515782

Processing medical records

PublishedAugust 20, 2013
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Inventorsnot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

Processing medical records may be provided. First, medical records may be received from a plurality of sources. The medical records may then be converted into a computer-readable form. Once converted, the medical records may be searched for certain key words, phrases, or symbols. These searched key words, phrases and symbols may correspond to data of interest within the medical records. Once located, the searched key words, phrases and symbols may be extracted from the medical records, as well as an area of the records surrounding the located key words, phrases and symbols. Finally, the extracted data may be used to generate a summary report.

Patent Claims
16 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.

Claim 1

Original Legal Text

1. A method for processing medical records, the method comprising: receiving, by a computer, a set of medical records stored in a database, the set of medical records stored in the database being linked to a claimant and comprising data of interest (DOI), the DOI comprising one or more of key words, phrases and symbols related to medical criteria for impairments, the set of medical records and further comprising a plurality of qualifiers, each of the plurality of qualifiers comprising a phrase associated with a date and a position of the date on a page in the set of medical records, the dates associated with the plurality of qualifiers being represented in a non-uniform fashion in the set of medical records, wherein the position of the date on the page in the set of medical records comprises a date appearing on a line of text on the page having no additional text on the line; determining that the date appearing on the line of text on the page having no additional text on the line has a higher likelihood of being a best date than dates appearing in the middle of a sentence located in a body of the page; converting, by the computer, the set of received medical records into a computer-readable form; searching, by the computer, the converted set of medical records to locate the DOI and the plurality of qualifiers; determining, by the computer, the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers; extracting, by the computer, the DOI from the converted set of medical records; generating, by the computer, a summary report comprising the extracted DOI; and customizing, by the computer, the summary report, wherein customizing the summary report comprises: converting the dates associated with the DOI to a common and uniform date representation for display; receiving a user selection of a chronological order of DOI presentation in a graphical user interface displayed by the computer; and in response to receiving the user selection, organizing the summary report such that the DOI is presented in the chronological order by the dates associated with the DOI.

Plain English Translation

A method for processing medical records uses a computer to receive medical records linked to a claimant from a database. These records contain "Data of Interest" (DOI) like keywords, phrases, or symbols related to medical criteria for impairments, along with qualifiers. Qualifiers are phrases associated with dates (like "date of exam") and the date's position on the page. Dates may be in various formats. The system recognizes that a date on a line by itself is more likely to be the correct date than dates within sentences. The computer converts records to a readable form, searches for the DOI and qualifiers, determines DOI dates using qualifiers, extracts the DOI, and creates a summary report. The report is customized by converting dates to a standard format, allowing users to select a chronological order for the DOI, and then presenting the DOI in that order.

Claim 2

Original Legal Text

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching the converted set of medical records comprises identifying the one or more of key words, phrases and symbols.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above searches converted medical records by identifying keywords, phrases, and symbols within the records, which are used to find the "Data of Interest" (DOI).

Claim 3

Original Legal Text

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying at least one of the following: the keyword, the phrase, and the symbol comprises receiving a user specification of the one or more of key words, phrases and symbols.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above searches converted medical records by identifying keywords, phrases, and symbols (related to "Data of Interest"), where a user specifies these keywords, phrases, and symbols to be searched.

Claim 4

Original Legal Text

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching the converted set of medical records comprises identifying documents within the converted set of medical records.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above searches converted medical records by identifying specific documents within the converted medical records.

Claim 5

Original Legal Text

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein identifying the documents within the converted set of medical records comprises identifying a laboratory report, and wherein extracting the DOI comprises extracting one of the following: a portion of the laboratory report and the entire laboratory report.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above searches converted medical records by identifying a laboratory report, and extracting the Data of Interest comprises extracting either a portion of the identified laboratory report or the entire report.

Claim 6

Original Legal Text

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting the DOI comprises extracting an area of a page within the set of medical records, the area of the page surrounding a search term associated with the DOI.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above extracts the Data of Interest by extracting an area of a page within the set of medical records surrounding a search term associated with the DOI.

Claim 7

Original Legal Text

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein extracting the area of the page within the set of medical records comprises extracting a predetermined amount of data from the page, the predetermined amount of data being based on a proximity of a search term associated with the DOI to at least one of the following: a header, a beginning of a sentence, an end of a sentence, a beginning of a paragraph, an end of a paragraph, and a punctuation mark.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above extracts the Data of Interest by extracting an area of a page, and this area's size is determined by the proximity of a search term associated with the Data of Interest (DOI) to elements like a header, the beginning or end of a sentence/paragraph, or punctuation marks. The closer the search term is to these elements, the more or less data is extracted.

Claim 8

Original Legal Text

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising outputting the summary report, wherein outputting the summary report comprises at least one of the following: providing the summary report to a storage device, providing the summary report to a display device, providing the summary report to a printing device, and electronically communicating the summary report over a network.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above outputs the summary report by at least one of: providing the report to a storage device, displaying it on a screen, printing it, or sending it electronically over a network.

Claim 9

Original Legal Text

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching the converted set of medical records comprises identifying at least one heading.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above searches converted medical records by identifying at least one heading within the records.

Claim 10

Original Legal Text

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the computer, the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers comprises determining a best date for the DOI when the set of medical records provides more than one date in proximity to the DOI, wherein the best date comprises a date which most accurately represents a twenty-four hour period during which a particular medical activity associated with the set of medical records occurred.

Plain English Translation

The method for processing medical records described above determines the dates associated with the Data of Interest (DOI) based on qualifiers. If multiple dates are near the DOI, the system determines the "best date" that most accurately represents the 24-hour period when the related medical activity occurred.

Claim 11

Original Legal Text

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of qualifiers comprises one or more of the following phrases: date of exam, date of service, exam date, discharge date and admission date.

Plain English Translation

In the method for processing medical records described above, the qualifiers include phrases such as "date of exam," "date of service," "exam date," "discharge date," and "admission date". These phrases help to determine the correct date for the Data of Interest.

Claim 12

Original Legal Text

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising a set of instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of processing medical records, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising: receiving a set of medical records stored in a database, the set of medical records stored in the database being linked to a claimant and comprising data of interest (DOI), the DOI comprising one or more of key words, phrases and symbols related to medical criteria for impairments, the set of medical records and further comprising a plurality of qualifiers, each of the plurality of qualifiers comprising a phrase associated with a date and a position of the date on a page in the set of medical records, the dates associated with the plurality of qualifiers being represented in a non-uniform fashion in the set of medical records, wherein the position of the date on the page in the set of medical records comprises a date appearing on a line of text on the page having no additional text on the line; determining that the date appearing on the line of text on the page having no additional text on the line has a higher likelihood of being a best date than dates appearing in the middle of a sentence located in a body of the page; receiving a user specification of the one or more of key words, phrases and symbols; converting the set of received medical records into a computer-readable form; searching the converted set of medical records to locate the DOI and the plurality of qualifiers data of interest (DOI); determining the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers; extracting the DOI from the converted set of medical records; generating a summary report comprising the extracted DOI; and customizing the summary report, wherein customizing the summary report comprises: converting the dates associated with the DOI to a common and uniform date representation for display; receiving a user selection of a chronological order of DOI presentation in a graphical user interface displayed by the computer; and in response to receiving the user selection, organizing the summary report such that the DOI is presented in the chronological order by the dates associated with the DOI.

Plain English Translation

A non-transitory computer-readable storage device contains instructions to process medical records. The instructions, when executed, cause the computer to receive medical records linked to a claimant from a database. These records contain "Data of Interest" (DOI) (keywords, phrases, symbols related to medical impairment criteria) and qualifiers (phrases linked to dates, like "date of exam," and their positions on the page). The dates may be in various formats. The system recognizes that a date on a line by itself is more likely to be the correct date. The user provides keywords, phrases, and symbols to search. The records are converted to a readable form, searched for the DOI and qualifiers, the DOI dates are determined, the DOI is extracted, and a summary report is generated. The report is customized by converting dates to a standard format, letting the user select a chronological order, and presenting the DOI in that order.

Claim 13

Original Legal Text

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein extracting the DOI comprises extracting an area of a page within the set of medical records, the area of the page surrounding a search term associated with the DOI, wherein extracting the area of the page within the set of medical records comprises extracting a predetermined amount of data from the page, the predetermined amount of data being based on a proximity of a search term associated with the DOI to at least one of the following: a header, a beginning of a sentence, an end of a sentence, a beginning of a paragraph, an end of a paragraph, and a punctuation mark.

Plain English Translation

The non-transitory computer-readable storage device from the previous medical records processing description extracts the Data of Interest (DOI) by extracting an area of a page surrounding a DOI search term. The extracted area's size depends on the search term's proximity to elements like headers, sentence/paragraph beginnings/endings, or punctuation.

Claim 14

Original Legal Text

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein determining the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers comprises determining a best date for the DOI when the set of medical records provides more than one date in proximity to the DOI, wherein the best date comprises a date which most accurately represents a twenty-four hour period during which a particular medical activity associated with the set of medical records occurred.

Plain English Translation

The non-transitory computer-readable storage device from the previous medical records processing description determines the dates associated with the Data of Interest (DOI) using qualifiers. If multiple dates are found near the DOI, the system determines the "best date," which is the date that most accurately reflects the 24-hour period of the related medical activity.

Claim 15

Original Legal Text

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of qualifiers comprises one or more of the following phrases: date of exam, date of service, exam date, discharge date and admission date.

Plain English Translation

In the non-transitory computer-readable storage device from the previous medical records processing description, the qualifiers include phrases like "date of exam," "date of service," "exam date," "discharge date," and "admission date".

Claim 16

Original Legal Text

16. A system for processing medical records, the system comprising: a memory storage, and a hardware processing unit coupled to the memory storage, the processing unit being configured to: receive a set of medical records stored in a database, the set of medical records stored in the database being linked to a claimant and comprising data of interest (DOI), the DOI comprising one or more of key words, phrases and symbols related to medical criteria for impairments utilized for a disability evaluation, the set of medical records and further comprising a plurality of qualifiers, each of the plurality of qualifiers comprising a phrase associated with a date and a position of the date on a page in the set of medical records, the dates associated with the plurality of qualifiers being represented in a non-uniform fashion in the set of medical records; convert the set of received medical records into a computer-readable form; search the converted set of medical records to locate the DOI and the plurality of qualifiers; determine the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers, wherein determining the dates associated with the DOI based on the plurality of qualifiers comprises determining a best date for the DOI when the set of medical records provides more than one date in proximity to the DOI, wherein the best date comprises a date which most accurately represents a twenty-four hour period during which a particular medical activity associated with the set of medical records occurred, wherein the plurality of qualifiers comprises one or more of the following phrases: date of exam, date of service, exam date, discharge date and admission date, wherein the position of the date on a page in the set of medical records comprises a date appearing on a line of text on the page having no additional text on the line; determine that the date appearing on the line of text on the page having no additional text on the line has a higher likelihood of being the best date than dates appearing in the middle of a sentence located in a body of the page; extract the DOI from the converted set of medical records; generate a summary report comprising the extracted DOI; customize the summary report, wherein customizing the summary report comprises: converting the dates associated with the DOI to a common and uniform date representation for display; receiving a user selection of a chronological order of DOI presentation in a graphical user interface displayed by the computer; and in response to receiving the user selection, organizing the summary report such that the DOI is presented in the chronological order by the dates associated with the DOI; and output the summary report.

Plain English Translation

A system for processing medical records includes memory storage and a processing unit. The unit receives medical records from a database, linked to a claimant and containing "Data of Interest" (DOI) (keywords, phrases, symbols related to medical impairment criteria used for disability evaluation) and qualifiers (phrases with dates and positions). The dates may be in varying formats. The system converts the records to a readable format and searches for the DOI and qualifiers. The system determines the dates linked to the DOI, selecting the "best date" (most accurate 24-hour period of activity). Qualifiers include "date of exam", etc. A date on a line by itself is more likely correct. The system extracts the DOI, generates a report, customizes the report by standardizing date formats, allows user to choose chronological order, displays the DOI in chosen order, and outputs the customized report.

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Patent Metadata

Filing Date

March 10, 2011

Publication Date

August 20, 2013

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